(a) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a variable magnification viewfinder to be used with photographic cameras, still video cameras, video cameras, etc. for clearly informing photographers of photographing ranges by varying magnification of the viewfinder.
(b) Description of the Prior Art
Viewfinder optical systems are used separately from photoraphing optical systems. Out of these viewfinder optical systems, the inverted Galilean viewfinder can be mentioned as a representative of variable magnification type of viewfinders.
In order to match diopter of the visual field with that of the optical frame and align the optical axes of emerging lights, a variable magnification viewfinder uses a reflecting mirror inclined 45.degree. relative to the optical axis in the course of the optical system of the visual field in case of the light-admitting viewfinder or a half mirror in case of the Albada viewfinder. For this reason, a long lens shift distance cannot be reserved and a high variable magnification ratio cannot be obtained when an attempt is made to design an inverted Galilean viewfinder capable of varying magnification thereof. If an attempt is made to obtain a high variable magnification ratio, the viewfinder will have a large diameter, thereby making it impossible to design a compact camera. Further, it is obliged to lower magnification level of the viewfinder, thereby making it impossible to obtain a viewfinder having sufficient performance. For example, the Albada type of inverted Galilean variable magnificatin viewfinder disclosed by Japanese Unexamined Published Patant Application No. 87122/61 is not satisfactory in both the variable magnification ratio and magnification level thereof.
On the other hand, Keplerian viewfinder, which uses a visual field frame (optical frame) arranged at the intermediate imaging position, facilitates to match diopter of the visual field with that of the optical frame and is capable of aligning optical axes of the emerging lights, thereby requiring no wide space for multiple optical systems and permitting to obtain desired variable magnification ratio without enlarging lens diameter or prolonging total length of the optical system.
As such Keplerian variable magnification viewfinders, there have already been known those disclosed by Japanese Unexamined Published Patent Application Nos. 156018/61, 160713/61, 156019/61 and 7017/62. However, all of these viewfinders are designed for variable magnification ratios lower than 2 and unsatisfactory in the imaging performance thereof. Out of these viewfinders, those disclosed by Japanese Unexamined Published Patent Application Nos. 7017/62 and 156018/61 allow large variations of diopters to be caused by varying magnification and are unsatisfactory for practical use.